Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh : Funding and Grant Sourcing

In November 2002 GVA RGA started working with the Royal Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh, the task to assess the financial feasibility of a proposed Visitor Gateway Centre at the West Gate of their site. RBGE sought advice on the optimum mix of visitor services and commercial activities that could be accommodated within this building.

In June 2006 it was announced that the RBGE had received funding of more than £6 mn towards building one of the largest visitor centres in Scotland.

In November 2009 the new £15.7 million John Hope Gateway was opened. Funded by the Scottish Government, the Heritage Lottery Fund and other trusts and corporate donations, the new biodiversity and information Centre was named after the 18th century Reguis Keeper of the Botanic Gardens, John Hope.

GVA RGA was involved with the project at its inception helping to shape the vision for the new Centre. We were very pleased to see the new Centre transform from vision to reality. It has a little bit of something for everyone; an interactive area to engage children, educational facilities, a shop, a restaurant overlooking the gardens and an inaugural exhibition; The Wych Elm Project featuring work by some of Scotlandís leading artists using material from an elm tree that felled in the garden in 2003.

The Centre is a great example of a sustainable building both visually and structurally. It is mainly made of timber, has a wind turbine, solar collectors and solar panels and rain water harvesting. The Gateway restaurant in the Centre is also committed to being as environmentally sustainable as possible. Its tables and chairs are made of timber previously felled from RBGE sites. It also adopts other initiatives including reduced packaging, sourcing locally and organising educational programmes to promote healthy living to children.